This invention concerns a device to be used in conjunction with a part of machine placed between a machine for packing various products in strips of blistered tape, commonly known as blister packs, and a device designed to stack these blister packs and then insert them into suitable containers, such as cartons.
The packaging machine is of the type which, observed from upstream to downstream, comprises a station where the blisters are formed out of thermoformable material, a station where the blisters are filled with a product (e.g., capsules pills and similar objects), a station where the presence of the product in the blisters is detected and/or where it is verified that the product placed in the blisters is not defective, a station where a film of aluminium foil is applied to seal the surface of the said tape where the blisters have their openings, and a station where the tape with the sealed blisters is cut up into blister packs.
The said section of the machine comprises a closed loop conveyor, whose upper surface is downstream with respect to the said cutting station.
The said conveyor is preferably formed of two adjacent belts, there being, on the outer side of each belt, crosspieces protruding right across the adjacent belt.
The crosspieces of the two belts form seats which receive the blister packs.
Transfer of the blister packs from the cutting station to the seats is effected by means of a technical solution, protected by Italian patent application No. 3544A/90 filed on the same date by the same applicant, which enables the blister packs to be oriented with their blisters facing upwards.